Cut
by Rebecca Hb
Summary: Stormwings are infuriating, Daine is exhausted, and holding back takes too much effort. Daine/Rikash.


**Cut**

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"You still haven't claimed him?"

"Claimed who?" Daine asked, hands settling on her hips. She was knee-deep in a slow-moving river right now, using the cold water to push her magic. She felt about ready to sleep for a week if she got half a chance, but until she healed the People hurt by those damnfool miners poisoning the water- "I don't have time for this, Rikash."

Steel feathers rasped and clicked, and the Stormwing chuckled. "I can tell."

Rikash perched in the branches of an ancient willow, leaves shredding against his wings. Grackles chattered curses at him, but Daine felt no People hurt or dying under the Stormwing's talons. He said nothing more, and Daine took a deep breath.

Her eyes slid closed, and she gently teased out the copper fire of her magic, sending it flowing with the water of the river. It spread and touched People, bringing healing and burning out poison. Vaguely, she felt pain jolt through her body, then again and again-

Then her knees buckled, and she fell face-first into the river.

Before she had time to gather her wits, sharp talons dug into her shoulders. Stormwing steel cut into her leather armor, and as her head cleared the water, she heard the rattling of steel against steel as Rikash flapped his wings. His talons tightened as he hauled her entirely out of the river, and she felt her armor give underneath them. She hissed in pain as they bit into her shoulders, then gasped as the Stormwing dropped her.

She landed in water barely ankle-deep, wincing at the jar of pain that ran through her body. Her legs weren't going to be happy with her anytime soon.

"That was foolish even for you," Rikash said, sounding irritated as he landed on an upthrust limestone block. His talons scarred the stone, then he shifted to deliberately rake steel over rock.

Daine growled.

"When it starts to hurt, _stop_. That's what pain is for." Amusement twisted his mouth, but the expression in his eyes didn't quite match his lips.

She trudged out of the river and threw herself down on the grassy bank. The sun shone warmly down on her, slowly drying her skin and hair. It felt nice, and Rikash was mercifully downwind. A small breeze rustled through the grasses, and slowly her eyes drifted shut. She was exhausted, she found suddenly. A little nap before catching up with Numair and the Riders would do her some good.

A line of fire sliced across her cheek, and her eyes flew open.

Rikash stood over her, flicking blood off a flight-feather. "Don't fall asleep. You've drained almost all of your magic, and if you sleep to replenish it, you won't wake up." He sighed. "Honestly, you're like a badly-trained fledgling someone abandoned with hurroks."

"You didn't have to cut me," Daine gritted out, wishing for her bow. It was a silly wish - even if she had it, she wouldn't use it. But she was exhausted and bleeding, and Rikash was making himself a target right now.

Want me to deal with him? A bear rumbled in her mind.

No, no, thank you, she murmured back, offering soft praises for him even offering.

"Should I have kissed you instead?" Rikash asked, green eyes as amused as his mouth. "The mage would throw a fit. I can't imagine he finds a Stormwing any more palatable than a Carthaki prince."

"Rikash Moonsword, there are options between cutting me and kissing me!"

"No, there aren't." He waved a wing at her glare, catching sunlight on the bright feathers. "No hands. It's feathers or mouth."

She frowned, taking a good look at the Stormwing for the first time in a long time. His talons held him awkwardly above the dirt, his tail dragged, filth encrusted his human skin. Her nose wrinkled as she caught his scent - he smelled _foul_. Wings flowed from his shoulders where humans would have arms. The only soft parts of a Stormwing were their heads and torsos. She knew that well enough, that's where she aimed her arrows-

But, she thought, she'd never really **known** it, had she?

"You ought to take a bath," she said to distract herself.

Rikash laughed, wings flapping softly to blow some of his reek on her.

She gagged and slapped a clawed hand at him, raking him across the chest. The smell felt like it was coating her _tongue_. "Bath, Rikash! Get in the river, or I'll throw you in!"

"You couldn't throw a kitten in right now," he said, waddling back as she took another swing at him. "Look at you, you can't even keep those claws on your hands."

Daine growled and threw herself at him. She snagged a bone-charm in one hand and _yanked_-

His hard mouth slammed against hers. Her nose outright rebelled, but Rikash's mouth pressed against hers, and she had no idea when either of them started kissing. It was- None of her swains kissed as well as Rikash did. She thought it'd make her toes curl, if it weren't for the smell.

He would only kiss her close-mouthed, though, which was fair frustrating. She _wanted_ more. Her blood was up, and he was a male she- He was filthy, but he could kiss, and he wasn't the slightest bit afraid of her, not like a lot of the boys in the palace were.

She kissed harder, running her tongue along his lips until she felt the slightest bit of give. Then she pressed in hard-

The taste of blood hit her tongue, and her eyes flew wide with pain.

Rikash pulled back from the kiss, eyes flashing with some emotion she couldn't quite grasp. Then he peeled his lips back, baring bloody steel teeth. "Fools rush in where the gods fear to tread. Mind the teeth."

Daine swallowed her blood. "Rikash..."

"DAINE!"

They both jerked around at the sound of Numair's yell, and Daine suddenly found she couldn't hold herself upright on her own. She thumped back against the riverbank, eyes going to a hawk wheeling in the wide blue.

Rikash flicked his wings forward, steel feathers pricking against her arm. "Well, Longshanks has come to defend your virtue. Better late than never."

"You smell terrible," Daine said as she asked the eagle to locate Numair for her. He didn't sound very far away, but she hardly felt like turning her head away from Rikash, much less trying to look for Numair.

Rikash snorted. Then gently, so gently she thought it hadn't happened for a long moment, he laid one long feather against her cheek. It made her skin sing as he pulled it back, and her lips parted in a soft gasp.

"Maybe if you ask nicely, and it's a blue moon, I'll bathe for you," the Stormwing said before waddling away. It took a few loud moments of flapping for him to get in the air again. Underneath the sudden clamor of metal, she heard Numair cursing and the thud of his feet against the ground.

He dropped down by her side at about the moment Rikash took off completely, and she smiled up at Numair. "I think I overdid it."

"I think you did, too, magelet."

**-End-**


End file.
